The Mayor of New York is offering migrants living in the city a one-way ticket out of there in an attempt to reduce the number of asylum seekers living in the city. The scheme was launched this week, offering migrants free travel to anywhere in the world as long as they don’t want to come back.
In an attempt to discourage migrants from settling in New York City, mayor Eric Adams has come up with a new plan to fly them wherever they want, according to Politico. The scheme offers migrants currently living in the city a one-way ticket to a destination of their choosing at no cost, which the city believes is cheaper than offering housing to migrants over the winter months.
Now, as shelters across New York reportedly fill up, the mayor’s office has started directing migrants to an office dedicated to flying them out of the area. Adams told reporters that the scheme was launched because “when you are out of room, that means you’re out of room.” Politico reports:
The new, more aggressive “reticketing” plan comes as the city deals with the 130,000 migrants arriving since last year and as it tightens how long they can stay in shelters, forcing the newest arrivals out after 30 days.
The city has been at odds with the White House over the lack of a national remedy to the migrant surge, pitting Adams against President Joe Biden. One-way plane tickets, even international ones, are cheaper than the cumulative daily, per-migrant cost that has risen to $394 this month from $363 in the city.
As you’d expect, this scheme has sparked backlash as it draws comparison with the measures carried out by Texas last year to fly migrants entering the state to “liberal enclaves” across America.
In September 2022, migrants were loaded onto jets in Texas and flown to places like Martha’s Vineyard, without any idea where they were heading. The scheme sparked widespread condemnation as some that were flown out of Texas were done so just days before their asylum hearings, with no way of getting back to Texas to make the appointments.
However New York claims it’s not at all the same as that, with the fact that people taking up the offer know exactly where they’re going to biggest differentiator. In fact, Politico spoke with one person taking a flight out of New York who said they are heading to Michigan after they “tried our luck here, but there is no room.”
